Republicans still believe Obamacare needs to be repealed and replaced, said Sen. Rob Portman, despite headlines from an interview with Washington Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers that seemed to indicate a hint of surrender.

"The point is not just to repeal it, but to replace it with legislation that does give people more opportunities to get the coverage they want," the Ohio Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" on Monday. Republicans "think we can do better."

McMorris Rodgers told The Spokesman-Review on Friday, "We need to look at reforming the exchanges. It is a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach to healthcare."

The headline that ran with the story read, "McMorris Rodgers says ACA likely to stay."

In a statement to Fox News on Monday, McMorris Rodgers' office said, "The headline is not an accurate or representative portrayal of what the congresswoman said in the interview, what her voting record reflects, or what she believes. She will continue working to repeal it every opportunity moving forward and replace it with patient-centered reforms."

Portman justified scrapping Obamacare and starting over because it was "bad law" and "a failed model." He said there was "very little I can point to that's actually positive" about the healthcare law.

"This is not a good law by its own standards, its own metrics, it doesn't work," he said.
Republicans can offer workable alternatives to provide better healthcare that would benefit "the American people, American families, our economy," Portman said.

"The point is, we have better ideas, and we have ideas to get people coverage, to keep the cost of health care down, which is the key issue. And, to allow people to have what they want," he said. "We've got to repeal it and replace it with something better."